It's A Choice, Not A Movement...

Just a few hours ago an article that was posted in essence.com was splattered on my FB status feed; the poster of said editorial then follows up with a paragraph long post rallying against any one who is trying to stop the "natural hair movement".

Why can't going natural be a choice? Why does it have to be a movement? As you can see from my profile pic I'm natural myself and don't get me wrong I'm grateful for all the blogs and YT videos that pertain to the care and maintenance of natural hair but there are some people that take this to levels that it should not be taken to.

So for this facebook poster to claim that essence was "paid" to post this article in efforts to stop the "natural hair movement" takes it to far and as far as this natural is concerned it is not that serious. To look down on someone because they choose to relax and not "take their hair back" is once again a bit much and a little sad (further separation of our people).

Maybe I'm just simplistic in my thinking but I never thought of relaxing my hair as being a slave to the white man; it just made it easier for me to manage my hair. I never thought going natural would satisfy a prerequisite to really being a black woman; I just wanted to stop relaxing so my hair would stop falling out. See? Simple. Choices. No power to the people, no nappy vs. straight just did what worked for me. Why can't it be that way period?

Anyway,

Somethings people need to know before taking this leap is:

This is not a movement of any kind. It is a personal choice and what is best for YOU and what YOU are able to manage.

Going natural takes research, time and patience. You may possibly have to deal with shrinkage, dry hair during certain seasons and frizz during others. If you can't hang with it then don't bother going there.

Know your hair type (curl pattern) and try different products. Not every one has that wash and go, don't have to throw nothing in out hair except for water type hair. Find what products work for you and use them.

DON'T, lawd sweet baby Jesus 6lbs in the manger, DON'T take going natural as a pass not to do your hair. In some cases being natural does take more work and time. Yes you may want to braid and/or twist your hair in order for it to look like something in the morning. But by all means don't roll into the office looking like Buck Wheat did after he got shot because you feel that you need not run a wide tooth comb through your hair because you are "natural".

Going natural is NOT I repeat NOT cheap in the slightest. For what you save in not going to the salon for those touch ups, you may spend in product (there is some affordable product out there). If you do find a competent natural hair stylist then yes you run the risk of spending the same amount of money for that touch up in one natural hair visit; which is understandable given the time it take to work with natural hair...oh and I need to mention the cost of product.

Being natural does not preclude you from being successful in your career field. I work for Corporate America, with top level executives and VPs, I just got a new position mind you and I rock my curly fro all up and through HQ. BUT, I make sure I look presentable and my hair is done (please see 4th paragraph in this list).

I'm getting off of my soap box now and now that I have said my piece I don't want to hear no more bullshit about this...it's a choice not an obligation to represent natural black folks.

Peace, hair clips and hair grease (when I was in cosmetology school we used to say that all the time). Night folks!

The Sweet Hand of Jesus...

Over the weekend my rental office gave residents notices that August 2-8 they would be closing down a portion of the parking lot requiring for every one that lived in certain buildings to park in the back of the building, across the street from the complex or near the pool. So I posted said notice up on my refrigerator as a reminder to me don't forget to put the car in the back when you get home to avoid problems Tuesday morning.


Lil Bit and I were rushing this morning so one can imagine how I felt when I went to leave my parking lot and they had closed the damn lot down. I look at the date on my phone jussssst to make sure I wasn't crazy, because sometimes my days tend to run together. Nope, nope nope August 1 it is. So I rolled down my window and asked the guy if they could please let me out? The guy looked to one of the maintenance men (real big dude), who was over seeing everything and the dude shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.


I'm sitting in the car like, errr??? Excuse me? While my 5 1/2 year old is in the back laughing hysterically because she thinks that allll this is so funny. So after waiting about 5 mins I finally got tired of being passive about the whole situation and I got out the damn car (yep all 5'3" and *mumbling* pounds of me). Lil Bit in the back screaming, "Mommy no! Mommy nooooooo!" she really thought I was going to clock dude. So, I rolled up to him and politely asked, "Could you please let me out?" he says, "We sent notices out" with hands folded and eyebrow raised I said, "The notices said starting August 2nd and by my calender today is August 1." so he was just like, "they said August 2?"...Yes sir they did.

Once it settled in that the people responsible for notifying residents were dumb asses his tone changed and all of the sudden my name was "Sweety". Anyway, he let me out. I wondered what should I do? Should I call the rental office and complain?? I figured I shouldn't because unless their response was, "i'm so sorry we continue to be dumb asses that don't give a spit about our residents and what can we do to rectify it?" nothing good would come of this. I figured I would leave it...called the doctor's office to speak to the nurse that forgot to call in a much needed prescription on Friday...was sent to her voice mail. I left a really nice message for her...no seriously I was nice, real nice. :-)

Come into work...late and I mean real late and this dude is holding up the elevator talking to some other dude. At this point I burst out into a fit of laughter. They both looked at me like I was crazy but after the weekend and morning I have had all I could do was laugh. I did not have the energy, desire nor anger to cuss any one out whether it was well deserving or not.

Only the sweet hand of Jesus can put me in such a state of peace to where I'm not feeling as though I wanted to choke someone out (like I wanted to do on Friday). Having a feeling a peace and being in a state of peace is priceless. I have a feeling I am about to go into a period where God is going to "force" me to grow even more as a person so the peace is what I need to maintain right now.


I'm going to actually get some work done. You all make is a wonderful day.